1) Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to calibrating laser projection systems, and more specifically, to devices, systems and methods having three-dimensional measurement capability for calibrating laser projection systems.
2) Description of Related Art
Laser projection systems are used to record visible images directly onto components during an assembly process. In some applications, laser projection systems may be used to provide guidance during manufacturing and assembly of components, such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) components. In other applications, laser projection systems may be used to create markings and images on production parts. The laser marking of such parts may facilitate the subsequent processing and assembly of the parts into a cohesive superstructure. Typically, a laser projection system includes a plurality of laser projectors capable of generating laser beams. Accordingly, the use of laser projection systems for guidance and marking applications generally demands that the orientations of the projected laser beams be properly calibrated with respect to one another. Current calibration mechanisms typically rely on visual estimation of the offsets between the orientations of the various lasers of a laser projection system to create a best fit value for calibration. The use of visual estimation by a human operator to calibrate a laser projection system that is critical to manufacturing may be a time consuming trial and error process that reduces overall component production and assembly efficiency.
Known two-dimensional calibration walls for laser projection systems, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,965,396 B2 (“Enhanced Laser Projector Calibration Wall”), have been used to perform two-dimensional calibration of laser projectors of known laser projection systems and have improved efficiency over visual estimation calibration methods in determining the proper two-dimensional calibration of such known laser projection systems. However, such known two-dimensional calibration walls, alone, are not capable of three-dimensional measurement and cannot enable measurement of defined features in three-dimensional space. Thus, for known laser projection systems with laser projectors that use three-dimensional laser projections in manufacturing applications and that require standards to enable additional types of feature based measurements, there is a need for an apparatus, system and method having three-dimensional measurement capability and enabling three-dimensional laser projection system calibrations.